Donald Featherstone, the Man Who Created the Pink Plastic Lawn Flamingo Dies at Age 79

The man who created the Pink Plastic Lawn Flamingo has died at the age of 79 … Instapundit points out that the plastic pink flamingo is the official city bird of Madison, Wisconsin.

If you’ve got a plastic pink flamingo on your lawn, give it a pat on the back. The man who designed the lawn art, Donald Featherstone, has died. He was 79.

His wife, Nancy, tells The Associated Press that Featherstone died Monday and that he had battled Lewy body dementia.

A trained sculptor with a background in classical art, Featherstone created the now-ubiquitous pink flamingo in 1957, based on a photo he saw in National Geographic. The flamingo ornament was one of hundreds of items he made for the Union Products plastics company in Leominster, Mass. The AP reports that Featherstone spent 43 years with the company, “rising to the position of president before his retirement in 1999.”

Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella announced his passing, calling him a “local classic.”

Mr. Featherstone created the pink flamingo in 1957 after graduating from art school at the Worcester Art Museum. He worked at Union Products in Leominster, and the pink flamingo was one of 750 items he created for the company.

In 1996 Mr. Featherstone was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in art. The prize is a parody of the Nobel Prizes and given to honor unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. That year he also was appointed president of Union Products, a post he held until 2000.